The Deals Store Model
By Nancy Lane, president, Local Media Association
Liz White, Vice President, New Media, The Record Journal, Meriden, CT (Circulation about 18K), presented a case study about their success using the Deals Store model to increase their deals revenue.
Strategy & Success Behind Deal Stores
• Good for advertisers – no out of pocket cost and no risk as usual; receive a lot of additional print & digital promotion
• Good for customers – lots of local deals & big discounts to choose from; creates a shopping mall & browsing experience
• Good for reps – easier to see around a theme; it’s another tool in their kit; their customers are happy with the additional promotion; extra bonus $ for highest revenue deal in each store (in additional to regular monthly bonuses)
• Good for newspaper – new revenue, new advertisers, positive buzz in the community
5 Stores This Year:
- Cyber Monday Deal Store – to capitalize on the hype (they left it up for 2 days; they will go longer this year)
- Reader’s Choice Deal Store – they know that these are guaranteed popular local businesses
- Deals for Dads Deal Store – this enabled them to try a holiday theme (golf deals were popular)
- Pizza Night Deal Store – this was the least successful store for them but was still worth trying (wasn’t unsuccessful though)
- Restaurant Deal Store – they know that restaurant deals sell well
Coming Up:
- Thanksgiving Cyber Sales – doing a “Thanksgiveaway” $250 sweepstakes now leading up to the store
- Stocking Stuffer – leading up to Christmas Day
- New Year’s Eve
- New Year’s Resolutions
Deal Store Details:
- # of deals: 10-20, but maintain high quality
- Length of store: 7-14 days
- Types of deals: always include restaurants & don’t be afraid to include unique deals & high price points.
- Lots of promotion!
Best Performing Deals:
- Seafood
- Hibachi & Sushi
- Ice Cream
- Italian
- Diner
- Car Detailing
- New Haven Restaurant Tour
- Brewery Tasting & Tour
- Massage
Deals Store Results:
- Net revenue per store $1500-$7000
- # of deals purchased per store: 405-1,342 – with average of 1,000+ deals
- # of first time purchasers: 70-267
- New people who signed up to receive emails: 70-294
Huge Promotional Package: Print
- Large ad in paper lists all participating businesses
- Spadea wrap around page 1 of the daily newspaper
- Page 1 teaser promotion on the daily paper 3 times during store
- Quarter page ad runs 5 times in daily newspaper during the store
- Page 1 promotion in all 8 weekly papers
- Quarter page also runs in the weekly papers
Huge Promotional Package: Digital
- Emails
- Their web site (peel ad on home page)
- Mobile
- Facebook, etc.
Others in the audience were also having success with the deals store model. Stay tuned for more live updates during the day from the Local Media Association’s Deals & Promotions Summit.